Mets

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Right now, he is "the best closer in baseball."

Two pitchers..who would you rather have:

Pitcher A: 50.1 innings, 1.43 ERA, 0.914 WHIP.
Pitcher B: 49.2 innings, 0.91 ERA, 0.664 WHIP.

[Pelican]

Rest easy, Mutts’ fans. Speaking as a neutral Phillies fan, NY is a much better team than Atlanta. Better pitching and better pitching. With Harper back, the Phils can go about the business of catching and passing the Cowards and shutting them out of the playoffs.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Two pitchers..who would you rather have:

Pitcher A: 50.1 innings, 1.43 ERA, 0.914 WHIP.
Pitcher B: 49.2 innings, 0.91 ERA, 0.664 WHIP.

I want to say the one with roughly half the other's FIP, but then again I still grimace whenever Boom-Boom comes into the game.

[rudel.dietrich]

Baseball reference gives the Mets a 63% chance at winning the division and Atlanta a 37% chance. Based on their simulations of the rest of the season.

No other team has a realistic chance. Philadelphia has rounded up a 97% chance of making the playoffs.

The NL East has almost a sure chance of having 3 playoff teams.

This weekend the Braves have a tough series against another division leader while the Mets are playing a team who entered the season not even trying to make the playoffs.

They do not play each other again until late Sept/Early Oct

This weekend could be a make or break for both teams.

[Amazin69]

Old-Timers' Day today is awesome, of course. I particularly enjoyed the introduction of "adorable reliever Doug Sisk".

Okay, so maybe Howie Rose said "a durable reliever, Doug Sisk." But Dougie was kind of charming, right? Right?

*crickets*

[Amazin69]

On a more serious note, it's beautiful to see #24 finally retired in honor of Willie Mays.

And it's even more beautiful that it happens during a season where Robinson Cano was released by 3 different teams in a span of fewer than 90 days. [/petty]

Now let's take care of the other "unofficially" retired number, #8. For Yogi and Gary, both.

(Jesse Orosco must just be cursing the "3-batter" rule. He could still be a LOOGY, if they were allowed.)

ETA: the highlight must be 79-year-old Steve Dillon not only able to take the mound, not only throwing strikes, but hustling over to back up 3B when Mookie doubled over the disgusting scab in LF's head. (Scabs don't deserve names, of course.) Dillon, who pitched in all of 3 games in 1963-1964, showed more hustle than the scab (who was on the team this century) did either going back or coming in on the pop fly that Daniel Murphy dropped in front of him after that.



(You'll notice that Dillon wears #39. Edwin Diaz is lucky he's been pitching well. After all, Dillon is a lefty.)

[Westheim]

Any hint who the scab is? There was no way to see the game in my hole over here.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

On a more serious note, it's beautiful to see #24 finally retired in honor of Willie Mays.
... [/petty]

One of my first baseball memories was watching Willie Mays play. It would have been about 1962. I lived in central California from 62-70..and the Giants were by far my favorite team, even after the A's moved to Oakland, and started playing REALLY well.

[BBGiovanni]

That was a very uninspiring game... looks like the Mets bench is somehow still the Mets bench. Nido is the best-hitting C, Escobar is the pinch-runner, is there a backup SS? It's gonna be a looong month....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

That was a very uninspiring game... looks like the Mets bench is somehow still the Mets bench. Nido is the best-hitting C, Escobar is the pinch-runner, is there a backup SS? It's gonna be a looong month....

Not if they tank it quickly against the Trolley Dodgers.

Unpopular take: the best part of the weekend was the kidcaster -.-

[Déjà Bru]

Wow, what does it say for previous Mets administrations that this past Saturday saw the first Mets Old Timers' Day since 1994?

It was Old-Timers’ Day in Flushing, the first since 1994, and Old-Timers young (such as Jose Reyes and Daniel Murphy) and a little more “seasoned” (such as 1962 Mets Frank Thomas and Ed Kranepool) graced the field for a get-together that was worthy of this franchise, its place in New York baseball history and the fans who unfailingly support it.

The club used the occasion to announce that "the Mets are retiring the No. 24 worn by Hall of Famer Willie Mays when he played for the team from 1972-73 (and last worn by Robinson Cano earlier this year)."

Mets Old-Timers’ Day withered away in the mid-1990s, dropped by the club because of lack of enthusiasm (and a lack of will from the previous owners to honor their own team’s history).

Yet, the first time in 28 years that they held the event, "a total of 64 former Mets players and managers attended the event" and the stadium was "nearly full."

How long does it take to introduce 64 Old-Timers and other special guests? With Howie Rose doing the honors, it took exactly 30 minutes, from Original Met Ken MacKenzie to Hall of Famer Mike Piazza.

Loudest ovations? On a day when limited-impact Mets such as Dennis Cook and Glendon Rusch received hearty applause, you knew the fans were happy to see anyone in a Mets jersey — with the exception of Joe Torre, who actually heard some boos because he made the Hall of Fame for what he did in the Bronx, not Queens. (It was a little odd to see Torre in a No. 9 Mets uniform top.)

Fans seemed particularly stoked to see Benny Agbayani, Endy Chavez, Bartolo Colon (of course), Pedro Martinez, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez and Piazza.

But there were many, many others whom the fans were clearly thrilled to welcome back. Just imagine a nearly full stadium clapping and cheering for 30 straight minutes — with the exception of when Mookie Wilson was introduced and they yelled “Moooooookie” — and you’ll get the picture.

What kind of numbnuts team ownership and management did you guys have over there?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

What kind of numbnuts team ownership and management did you guys have over there?

Remember that guy?

The Wilpons were so deep in it, they had to fork over nine figures.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Remember that guy?

The Wilpons were so deep in it, they had to fork over nine figures.

So you are saying they couldn't even afford to stage an Old Timers' Day? I suppose the team pays for the attendees' travel expenses and such. Or is it that they were so stupid, lazy, and out of it that they just didn't feel like honoring the team's past?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

So you are saying they couldn't even afford to stage an Old Timers' Day? I suppose the team pays for the attendees' travel expenses and such. Or is it that they were so stupid, lazy, and out of it that they just didn't feel like honoring the team's past?

I'm not saying they couldn't afford it, I'm saying they were collossal sleezebags, and I am still not sure how Uncle Steve managed to buy the team away from them in the first place.

Heck, I'm even surprised they brought Mr. Met back after the mascot had fallen into disuse in the 70s and 80s. There's after all a former child actor costing minimum wage in that costume.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I'm not saying they couldn't afford it, I'm saying they were collossal sleezebags, and I am still not sure how Uncle Steve managed to buy the team away from them in the first place.

Heck, I'm even surprised they brought Mr. Met back after the mascot had fallen into disuse in the 70s and 80s. There's after all a former child actor costing minimum wage in that costume.

Pedro Martinez for one would never, ever, ever have gone to a Wilponian old timers day. I'm quite sure so many guys would not interact with them that they couldn't fill it out.

I'd rather they win a World Series, but things like this are good for the fanbase and tend to build an organization over time. Too bad the Metsies have had grown up management for about 10 of their 60 years

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

Pedro Martinez for one would never, ever, ever have gone to a Wilponian old timers day. I'm quite sure so many guys would not interact with them that they couldn't fill it out.

That's a very good point. It may indeed explain things.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Any hint who the scab is? There was no way to see the game in my hole over here.

Played left field. From Hawai'i. (And thus defiling El Sid's #50.). At least it wasn't the other scab from the 2000 team, the pitcher whose poor attitude earned him a name I probably can't use here.

(Also notable for being the guy who whined about how he had to take care of his family, even though he'd already been in MLB for seven years before the 1994 strike. And even though he'd been banking salaries made possible by players who risked serious management retaliation back when the minimum wage was only $10,000, instead of $109,000, as it was in 1994.

I had a whole digression about Lou Piniella and Torre and Rusty Staub and all the players who were "made examples of" for being part of the brief 1969 spring training boycott, but no reason to go that far afield, I guess. Anyways, I really hate that pitcher, and as popular as the left-fielder was in his brief career, I was very glad when it was over. JMO.)

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

So you are saying they couldn't even afford to stage an Old Timers' Day? I suppose the team pays for the attendees' travel expenses and such. Or is it that they were so stupid, lazy, and out of it that they just didn't feel like honoring the team's past?

To be more fair than the Wilpons deserve, not every team loves Old Timers' Day; it's mostly a Yankee thing. (The original was when the Yanks brought folks back for Babe Ruth's farewell [Babe had cancer, and knew it] in 1948.)

Bill Veeck, for example, thought OTD was depressing and embarrassing, and it was better to remember players as they were than wheel them out in middle or old age. And with the 1994 strike having damaged the game, there was a desire by ownership to sell the game as it was (hence "great ideas" such as wild-cards, interleague play [steroids…]), rather than bang on about "tradition" when most of the fans didn't care and were moving to the NFL and NBA, where you didn't have to know chapter and verse about people who died before World War 1 to feel like a fan.

(I disagree with this decision, just as I disagree with practically everything Bud Selig did, but I get the point.)

Also, since it was the same people invited every year (and fewer and fewer interested in attending) the Wilpons saved history for Anniversary celebrations (including the 50th anniversary of 1969 not long ago), Mets Hall of Fame ceremonies and number retirements, and the closing ceremonies for Shea Stadium in 2008. Just because we hadn't done "here's Steve Dillon, who was in one game in 1963 and two in 1964" in a while, that doesn't mean there had been no effort to maintain the team's connection to the past.

I mean. I'd mark out for Terrell Hansen, but I get that not everybody has the same p.o.v.

(Could you imagine Howie's introduction for Hansen? LMFAO!)

[Déjà Bru]

I haven't been a Mets fan, although I have tried occasionally. But I have lived in New York and I am a baseball fan so perhaps I know what I am talking about when I say: Not for a long while have I noticed the Mets and their fans having this much fun.

The Mets Pull One Back in a Fun Win Over the Dodgers
Jacob deGrom dominated, Brandon Nimmo made a catch to remember and Timmy Trumpet played a live version of Edwin Díaz’s entrance song during a thrilling win.

On a shelf in his spare locker at Citi Field, Brandon Nimmo has a baseball with a series of markings by Wayne Kirby, the Mets’ first base coach. Kirby noted the data from a stellar play Nimmo made earlier this summer, inscribing it: “Best Catch 2022.”

Kirby might need to reconsider; best, after all, is a relative term. Forget probabilities and exit velocities — the catch Nimmo made in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, to rob a homer from Justin Turner and save Jacob deGrom’s 2-1 victory, was a slice of baseball perfection.
The play, and the game, had it all: the two best teams in the National League, a sellout crowd of 41,799, a crisp pace, great players doing great things, even a live trumpet performance on the field before the top of the ninth inning.

“I’ve got to tell you, when we have a full house, I want the hot dogs to be hot, I want the beer to be cold, I want the parking not to be a problem, I want them to leave here and go, ‘Boy, that was worth it and I want to come again,’” Mets Manager Buck Showalter said.

“We have a responsibility to be ready to play, and that’s my first thought: If I went to this game tonight and I got in the car and went home, it was fun. That’s what it should be — and they picked us over the U.S. Open.”

That's a great quote from Buck.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

Pedro Martinez for one would never, ever, ever have gone to a Wilponian old timers day. I'm quite sure so many guys would not interact with them that they couldn't fill it out.

I'd rather they win a World Series, but things like this are good for the fanbase and tend to build an organization over time. Too bad the Metsies have had grown up management for about 10 of their 60 years

Pedro never played for the Dodgers, so Fred Wilpon wouldn't have invited him to Old Timer's Day, anyway.